Ajankohtaista

Democracy, Human Rights and Peace: Contested and Reclaimed

Alkamisaika:
keskiviikko 23. elokuuta 2017, 09.00

Päättymisaika:
torstai 24. elokuuta 2017, 18.00

Paikka:Mattilanniemi, Agora, Lea Pulkkisen sali

Democracy, human rights and peace are all political and contested concepts. In many recent debates, however, they are treated either as commonly shared achievements or uncritically without any understanding of the use of the concepts in the past and what that entails. At the same time, European politics is currently witnessing open resentment towards democratic institutions and fundamental rights, including hostility towards minorities and migrants. Furthermore, concepts such as democracy and human rights are re-invented as with the contemporary emphasis on direct rather than parliamentary participation, or the expansion of security and defense considerations at the expense of peaceful considerations and tools.

The aim of this workshop is to bring analytical distance to the prevailing discussions through theorisation and historicisation of these politicised concepts. The role of scholars is to offer alternative perspectives to current debates. More importantly, in order to see behind such topical slogans as ‘post-truth’ and ‘fake news’, it is of paramount importance to analyse the politics behind them: How are such arguments made, by whom and with which theoretical foundations and rhetorical tools? This workshop proposes to do just that by encouraging interdisciplinary scholarly debate.

Keynote speakers:

Elina Pirjatanniemi, Professor of Constitutional and International Law, Director of the Institute for Human Rights, Åbo Akademi UniversityGabriella Silvestrini, Associate Professor in History of Political Thought, Università del Piemonte Orientale, Vercelli